The Common Ground of Monsters
by ChasingJudai
Summary: "What could you and I possibly have in common? We both murder for some reason of justice. Whether it is no more alienation or to simply want to join comrades in battle, it is still a reason for why we murder. We both have been called monsters despite the fact that we are both fighting for noble causes." It may not have been a relationship with sweetness but it was intriguing.


Disclaimer: I do not own Yugioh Arc V.

When Yuri looks at all of the other bracelet girls compared to Serena, he finds striking differences out of them all compared to Serena. Ruri was gentle, quiet, reserved, and would only let out short statements before returning to sulking in her imprisonment. Yuzu was kind, soft, and no matter what you did, her eyes would still have some shining perseverance in them. Rin was not afraid to yell angrily at how chaining people down was wrong and was indeed ruthless in her mannerisms, knocking over the food the guards would hand her and tried to even to punch them in the solar plexus. Her face only softened a bit with the mention of Yugo before returning to a rough glare.

Rin honestly seemed like the only one that came close to being similar to Serena. Almost. Ruri was also almost similar to Serena. Once again, almost. Serena was quiet, like Ruri, but Ruri's silence possessed an air of tenderness. Serena was usually silent for calm calculations on how to handle her enemy and on staying focused.

Rin's brashness..was almost like Serena but Serena's brashness usually always had some plan with it while Rin acted on her impulses right at the moment. Rin's rough glare was also similar to Serena's but Serena's was much colder to Yuri. Yuri can already remember the early days of Academia. "This is Serena, Yuri. She's new to the Academia. The two of you shall be training here," Leo Akaba introduced and Serena looked straight at Yuri with narrowed eyes.

Yuri narrowed his back at her as Leo Akaba said, "I shall take my leave as you two get acquainted." "So, it seems we have a new soldier," Yuri said, and Serena looked to the side while saying, "That's correct." "Where did the Professor find you?," Yuri asked, before a sinister smile slipped onto his face.

"Oh, and by the way, don't see this as me wanting to get friendly with you. I have no such interest in relationships of any kind. I just want you to get whatever your past is out and tell you to abandon such sentiments if you want to be a soldier here at Academia. It will only serve as a burden to you, anyways."

Serena directs her gaze to him briefly, responding with, "Something that I already know in other words", before walking away. Nothing much had happened that day. What interested him the most was what happened after those days.

Serena had been challenging everyone at Academia to a duel and they always losed. They had begun to fear her for her strength, calling her a monster. Serena never even batted an eye as she walked off from them. She had only requested more duels, claiming she had to test her strength and was agitated when she had found no worthy opponents.

"Well, whatever. None of my business," Yuri had thought as he decided to go to the White Lily garden in the academy. The place always calmed his thoughts. Whether it was staring at them or ripping the petals to pieces and stamping on them, he was delighted either way. He sat near the lilies, simply enjoying silence.

Unfortunately, the peace was disturbed as Serena had come from behind stating in a monotone voice, "Duel me." Yuri laughed darkly before turning around and saying, "My dear sweet Serena, you want to duel? I'm flattered but I have no reason to duel you. Besides, can't you see I'm busy, basking in my solitude?"

Serena doesn't budge and Yuri sighs. "Still here. Haven't you heard the rumors about me? You should know I'm-"

"What people think of you is completely different from what you are. I'd like to hear what the person is from themself," Serena interrupted. Yuri stares at her for a long time before smiling sickly. "Oh? Well isn't that interesting," Yuri taunts. "But nothing can move me from this spot." Yuri then places a lily in his hand, snapping petals off and stomping on the already fallen petals.

"What exactly do you do here?," Serena asks and Yuri wonders why she isn't taking the hint to get lost. "Oh, I attend to thoughts of the mind, my dear," Yuri purrs but Serena doesn't even flinch at the creepy demeanor he takes on nor at the way he is damaging the flowers. "Most would get away from a person who is damaging flowers."

Serena blinks before saying, "I see." Yuri is now frustrated. She doesn't react at all! "Can I have that duel now?," Serena asks. "What is it?," Yuri drawls. "Care to give me a chance despite the rumors? Could it possibly be out of pity? Perhaps you're just wanting to get beaten to a pulp." "I have no interest in that. I just wanted a duel," Serena responds.

"Second off, I never approach anything out of pity. I don't like the "I'm so sorry for you." There's a fine difference between saying sorry for what happened to the person and sorry for you." Yuri stares at her once more before smiling. "How intriguing," Yuri comments. His duel with Serena had resulted in her loss but this only made her smirk. "I finally have a rival," Serena states but Yuri rolls his eyes.

"I hardly see how you could be a challenge when you lost," Yuri spat but that smirk doesn't leave Serena's face. "I wouldn't say that," Serena replies casually. "I don't want it too easy for me. It's much more of a possibility when it's harder. Leaves room for my imagination." Yuri could care less but this wasn't the last of Serena.

She would keep persisting him to duel her and when he did, she would always lose. Oddly enough there were times where she was close to winning, but Yuri had always found some way to counter them. There was one day where he kept hearing the constant whispers around Serena. "That girl is a monster. She always win. No one should be around her. She damages her opponents."

Serena would sit by herself, eating far too many meals which made Yuri's eyes twitch. "So that's where all the food goes," Yuri thinks before sitting across from Serena. He can hear even more whispers behind him saying, "Another monster. Monsters together? No one should be around either of them."

"Well, we're quite the talk of attention, aren't we?," Yuri inquires but he receives no reply from Serena. "Don't you care?" The lack of responsiveness irritates Yuri and so as a means to express his rage, he kicks over the table she was eating on, sending all of the food onto the ground and her hair is now soaked with many liquids.

"You don't get it! You're filth!" Serena says nothing before picking up some of the food that landed on the ground and placing it in her mouth. She swallows hard before breathing out, "Still edible."

Yuri is now beyond enraged! He is furious! "I said you were filth!" "But that's just what you think of me. Not what I actually am," Serena replies, leaving an angry Yuri. "It's the same for you too, you know?"

Yuri stamps off that day.

The next day, Serena comes back from training dueling stimulations and sits down on a nearby bench. "It's excessively hot," Serena groans about to lift up her shirt and slip off her skirt. "Don't do that," Yuri sternly tells her. "Why not?," Serena asks and Yuri's eyes twitch once again. This girl had no social skills whatsoever. "Just don't do it," Yuri says. "Haven't you been told not to take off your clothes in public?" "I grew up in an orphange and all of the kids changed there in front of eachother, and we also bathed together so what's wrong about me applying what I learned from home here in public?," Serena inquires.

"It just..it's different when you are in public," Yuri says, not knowing how else to put it. "You mentioned bathing in there. Don't tell me you tried to go to the male's hot springs here. You didn't, right?" Serena grumbles, "I don't see what was the difference between going into a male or females one. The males one was closer." "I also don't get why they were getting so flustered. You get naked when you take a bath. Why would you get surprised if I came without my clothes on?"

"That's not what they were surpised about," Yuri thinks but leaves that to himself. "Just don't, Serena. Don't."

Silence envelops the two before Yuri decides to break it. "So, you grew up an orphanage?," Yuri asks. Serena nods, saying, "That's correct." "Though it had more of a grim history than most orphanages." "Oh? A grim history? Do tell," Yuri urges and Serena actually doesn't retort back to him. "I have no memories of my parents or even how I came to be in that orphanage. All I can remember is every one calling me a monster because of how I always damaged people in duels. The orphanage was the only place I felt accepted. I know that I did try to provide for it to the best of my ability by shopping for food and dueling my adopted brothers and sisters."

Serena smiled at this and Yuri focused in on it, since it was a rare sight to see, unless it was a smirk. "But..even my adopted parents didn't last as long as my real ones. My adopted brothers and sisters didn't last as long as the real ones. Because of **him**."

" **Him**?," Yuri wonders.

"Where I'm from, there was a business of using children as slaves," Serena began. "The first man who wanted to buy the orphanage to make children slaves. Claimed he was reshaping and molding just character. Yeah right. When no was the answer, at night, he killed all of my family. That first owner was abusive. I hated his damn guts," Serena begun.

" I still have the gash he left on me." Serena lifted up her skirt to reveal on her thigh a large red wound. "He would slap me, kick me, curse me out, and tried to even throw glass plates at me. That man murdered my family and so..I killed him."

There was shock on Yuri's face now. "That's right. While he was finally asleep, I got out a knife and stabbed him from behind," Serena stated. "Then, I was chased by the police. I managed to avoid them by getting in an alleyway but at that point I wondered what justice there was in the world and that was when the Professor called me to Academia. He told me that in order to establish justice, I had to join him and become a soldier. That there were many like me. That they were my friends. Carding would help unite the dimensions. The Professor gave me hope and now..I owe my life to him."

It's quiet for awhile before Yuri asks, "Why are you telling me this? Don't you know I murder people? You never ruled out that possibility, did you, dearie?" Serena is silent before answering, "But do you murder for a reason?," Serena asked. "Mine is for revenge. For my family that died, for the justice that needs to be served, for those who called me a monster. Is yours..possibly for the revenge of everyone calling you a monster here? If that's the case, we do have more in common than you think. I could understand your desire for revenge."

Yuri is silent before he leans his head back against the wall, defeated. "I was...always discriminated of my abilities wherever I went, even before I joined Academia, and I was wondering where was the justice for no equality?," Yuri began, breathing heavily. "Even my own parents..didn't want me, but the Professor told me that I could change this lack of no equality with carding people. This is my reason to live." "Never thought though that I find someone..so similar to me in a way."

This was actually a significant day etched in Yuri's mind. The next day had to deal with him greeting a very bruised Serena with blood splattered over her shirt. "What were you doing!?," Yuri asks, his eyes widening and Serena only responds with "Training stimulation." She doesn't bat an eye to all the wounds she has been inflicted upon. Instead, she looks for the bandages. "Did you win?," Yuri questions and Serena directs her attention to him before shifting it away to the side. "No. I was completely brash," Serena states. "But..I set a bomb card to make sure even if I lost, my opponents wouldn't live. I'll give my life if that's what it takes." It was as Yuri said. Like Rin, she was brash but unlike Rin, she had a plan.

Serena's hands are trembling despite her stoic expression and she was going to wrap herself in bandages

but Yuri decided to take it away from her. "I'll do it," Yuri says. "Take off your shirt." Serena tosses it aside and Yuri can see all the bruises on her chest and stomach. He also can't forget the ones on her face and forehead.

Yuri groans and while wrapping the bandages across her chest, he groans, "You need to be more careful, Serena." Serena lets out a faint laugh which confuses Yuri. "Something funny?," Yuri questions and Serena replies with, "It's the first time you called me Serena without adding my dear to it." "Well, I guess that's because..I feel comfortable towards you," Yuri admits and Serena says, "Glad to know."

As he makes his way to her forehead, his hands brush across her very soft hair but they settle instead on her yellow bow. He unties it just a bit, leaving Serena's hair flopping to her shoulders. "Where did you get this?," Yuri asks, and Serena answered, "It was my adopted mother's." Yuri observes the sight of her with her hair down and won't deny that it is a bit pretty but he would much prefer her to wear the gift her mother gave her.

He ties it back into her hair before finishing his work, bandaging her.

As Yuri enters Serena's room he isn't quite expecting the first words he hears. "I'm cold. Sleep with me," Serena says, making room for him on her bed. Yuri should of though because Serena was incredibly blunt. "Serena, I can't sleep with you," Yuri says, as he stands next to the bed. "Why not?," Serena asks and Yuri sighs at having to explain why.

"Just do it for this night," Serena argues and Yuri sighs yet again, climbing in with her. Serena gazes at Yuri and does indeed find the man with her attractive. His purple hair may be messy but Serena found in his purple eyes an aura of cunning cleverness which peeked her interests. "You're doing well in dueling as usual," Serena comments, and her hands brush the tips of his hair for a brief moment.

Serena turns her back to him and he chuckles. He inches a bit closer till his breath is on her neck and inquires, "Why wouldn't I be? You seem to be doing just as well." Serena turns back to face him and brushes her hand lightly against his stomach, but Yuri's smile does not waver. Both of them could be egostical when it came to their dueling but when they tried to tell eachother not to get so cocky, it didn't stop their pride from growing.

"You still won't be able to beat me," Yuri retorts and Serena's peaceful smile is now replaced with furrowed eyebrows. "Alright, not cold anymore. Get out of room, Yuri," Serena demands and Yuri only snickers, giving a mere, "Yes, yes." Before he leaves though he pushes Serena against the wall saying, "You mean a lot to me," before kissing her and Serena only smirks into the kiss. "You mean a lot to me," Serena replies back.

The last day is difficult. "Yuri, you're still my rival," Serena begins. "I want to my best for the Professor just as you want to do. I won't give up on my goal." Yuri pauses before asking, "I know but..is leaving really going to help you accomplish your goal, Serena?" Serena only smirks, saying, "I'll come back even stronger than before, Yuri?" Yuri frowns. "That's not what I'm concerned about, idiot," Yuri thinks. "Anyone who leaves Academia gets carded, and if you leave..You're not someone I want to card, Serena." Serena doesn't listen though. She has her back to him as she waves but all he can think is, "Why did you make it so hard, Serena?"


End file.
